Red Hawk Essentials #5
The ballsiest decision of my life, Updates on my new gym, and UFC 282
No Risk, No Reward
I went to college to follow a similar path as my brother.
He’s now a retired firefighter in Montana and I used to think it was cool they could work 24 hours on and get 48 hours off. So I enrolled in a fire science school while taking my general studies at the University of Montana.
At the same time, I was training. And one day, my coach told me I could take a pro fight in Seattle. I had no idea what the fuck that meant. But as soon as I found out that I was getting paid to fight, I said fuck yeah! I’m in.
So I showed up in Seattle and beat that dude up. And here was my purse breakdown:
$300 to show up.
$300 to win.
$300 for travel.
After the fight, it hit me. I just got paid $900 to beat some guy up.
Meanwhile, I’m taking out thousands of dollars in loans to stay in college. Taking classes I don’t give a shit about when all I think about is fighting anyway.
So that’s when I made the ballsiest decision of my life - to quit school.
I wanted to see how good at fighting I can get.
The decision didn’t come without backlash. My parents kept trying to talk me out of it. Telling me how I needed my education to be successful. My friends’ parents kept telling my friends to stay away from me. Saying shit like how I’m never going to be successful.
And as a young college kid, this type of criticism was hard to swallow. But I stuck with my decision.
I believed in myself.
I knew what the consequences of my decision were.
I needed to be disciplined and make sacrifices.
I had to be okay with being broke for a while. And I had to spend long hours in the gym.
But like I’ve said before, if you plan on being a fighter, plan to be broke. I leaned on my love for martial arts to push me through rough patches. I learned to love practice. I learned to be grateful to go into the gym every day and learn from smart people.
Instead of worrying about money, I focused on absorbing as much knowledge as I could.
Today, I’m loving life. And I know I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t have the balls and guts to make that tough decision.
Short and Long Term Goals For My New Gym
If you guys remember from Red Hawk Essentials #3, I had to delay the opening of my new gym because we flooded the fucking thing.
Well, now we’re open for business baby!
With every new business, people always say the first sale is the hardest. And that’s the trickiest part of any business, right? Getting people through the door.
I’m not aiming for my first sale. I’m aiming for my first 50 sales. Why?
50 members means I break even with paying the coaches and the rent. As long as I’m not burning cash, I’m in a good spot. And any new member after that means we’re in the green.
That’s my first goal. 50 new members.
The way I’m gonna get my first 50 members is through 3 main pillars:
Having good training sessions/coaches
I’ve got some really good trainers right now that are really good with students. I know how intimidating it can be for people to train martial arts when they have zero experience.
So I’m gonna build a welcoming environment so people will feel good training here.
Helping students achieve their goals
This is the main thing we’re going to focus on. Whether it be weight loss goals, getting better, whatever. We’re going to make sure our students hit their goals so they can keep progressing and becoming more confident.
Building a community
You gotta build good relationships with the students. This is what keeps them active at your gym and invite people they know. Training with people you like keeps the motivation up. And this is how we can grow through word-of-mouth.
Plus, my gym is 24/7. What boxing or jiu-jitsu gym do you know that’s 24/7?
Now here’s my long term goal. You guys are gonna dig this.
There’s an empty grocery storefront next to me that’s 12,000 sq. ft.
I plan on turning that bitch into the ultimate training facility.
And here’s how I plan to get there.
So I currently have 2 more years left on the lease for this new gym space. By the end of it, I want 100-150 active members in the new gym. If I hit this number and combine it with my other gym, we can fill out that grocery store without wasting a ton of space.
Now is it gonna work out as perfectly as planned? Maybe, maybe not.
But it’s always good to know where you want to go. You might end up getting there sooner, later, or in an entirely different direction.
Thorne Supplements
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UFC 282 Thoughts
On paper, UFC 282 is not super stacked. I’m curious what PPV numbers they end up doing.
Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev
Jan is a fucking animal. He’s a stud.
I can’t see him losing to Magomed on a short notice 5 rounder. But Magomed is an explosive, scary guy.
And with guys like that, you never really know. But I’m going with Jan this Saturday.
Paddy Pimblett vs. Jared Gordon
Jared seems confident. This is a big stage for him.
On the other hand, Paddy is coming in with a lot of hype, a lot of confidence.
Jared is not really tall. He’s not really great anywhere. But he’s a great matchup for Paddy.
Still, I think Paddy gets it done.
Bryce Mitchell vs. Ilia Topuria
This is a fucking amazing fight.
Everyone always counts Bryce out because he trains on his farm. He does all this random shit like elbowing hay bales.
But when it’s time to fight, he shows up and proves he’s got good technique.
The guy standing across from him, Ilia Topuria, is an animal. He’s a confident striker and a very good grappler.
In my eyes, I think Ilia has everything to be a future champion. I’m going with Ilia in this one.
Darren Till vs. Dricus Du Plessis
I’m looking forward to Darren Till’s return. How is he gonna be coming back?
Outside of the cage, he’s been dealing with mental issues. But I hope we see the vintage Darren Till that we all know. If that happens, he beats Dricus.
What I’m Reading This Week
I recommend everyone go check out JamesClear.com. Get his book Atomic Habits and subscribe to his 3-2-1 newsletter.
I love his newsletter, he gives out a lot of ideas to think about. I always try to go over some of his newsletter in the pod and Patreon.
Here’s an idea from his newsletter last week:
“Nobody accomplishes anything significant alone.
But nobody accomplishes anything significant by accident either. Just because you need others doesn't mean you can wait for others to make it happen.
You have to act as if you are a force of nature and try to bend the universe in your desired direction—while remaining pleasant and open to help along the way.”
Having good people around you is important. And sometimes you need others to help you accomplish your goals, you can’t do it solo dolo.
But that doesn’t mean you should wait until you find a partner. Go out there and get it. The right person will come along the way.
Quick Hits From This Week
Red Hawk Recap Ep. 65
The rewards of being gritty and tough.
You’d be surprised on how far you can get in MMA just by being gritty and tough. Obviously, you still have to be disciplined. But you don’t always have to be the best athlete or have the best technique. If you’re gritty, fucking tough, and it’s hard to break you, you can go far in the sport. And those are good traits to have to pursue anything hard in life.
Disciplined athletes are going to get an opportunity eventually.
You guys know how I feel about discipline. Anyone with discipline will get somewhere in life. And I think in sports, a good athlete with discipline will get a shot somewhere. On this pod, I was joined by my buddy Levi Kelly, who’s a pro baseball player. But he also loves MMA and trained with Niko Price. Who knows, you might see him playing ball and fighting in the UFC at the same time one day.
Would I corner other fighters?
I don’t really want to be one of those head MMA coaches who is responsible for a bunch of fighters. I see what those guys go through, and I see how they get treated. As soon as one of their fighters lose a fight, the finger gets pointed straight at the coach. Imagine spending years with a person, investing your time and energy to mentor them, and they dip because they refuse to take ownership for their loss. That fucking sucks.
Plus, I want kids some day. I want to be there for my kids and be at my academy for my students. When you’re a head coach, you’re gone from Tuesday to Sunday. Every. Single. Week. Sitting in a fucking hotel room most of the time, when I could be at my academy or working on my other stuff.
But you never know for the future. If you come to my gym and want to do MMA, I’ll help you as much as I can. And if you’re at my gym and you feel like another gym will be better off for you, I’m in 100% support of you leaving and doing what’s best for you.
Tweet of the Week
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That wraps up this week’s Red Hawk Essentials folks.
Hope you’re keeping your mind and body healthy. Getting after your goals one day at a time.
If you’re new here, hit me with a subscribe below. Leave a comment with your thoughts. If you know someone who will enjoy this shit, do me a favor and send it to them.
Enjoy the rest of your week and enjoy the fights this Saturday.
Talk next week.
Tim
I think these and everything you do help with self improvement but also teach to be a better person. Excited to see the impact and heights you can reach over the next few years
Anotha great read. Thanks Tim.